Fraud

Prosecutors in South Korea say younger gang members are fueling a resurgence in organized crime, blending violence with online scams that have defrauded thousands.

Many victims who lost money to scammers say the gateway into the nightmare was a fake advertisement or article in which a trusted household name supposedly promoted an investment scheme. What they saw was a lie. Now, celebrities whose images and reputations are stolen to promote scams are calling for action.

A major donor-funded water plant in the capital of Solomon Islands was supposed to fix a clean water crisis. But people involved in the project said it was doomed by the Asian Development Bank’s insistence on taking the lowest bid.

Senior Airbus executives corresponded with an intermediary for controversial helicopter deals in Kuwait after the European company came under scrutiny for its dealings with middlemen, emails obtained by reporters show.

Iraq’s Dollar Auction: The ‘Monster’ Funneling Billions to Fraudsters and Militants Through the U.S. Federal Reserve Source link

For a decade and a half, Syria’s “under-20” soccer teams routinely outperformed the national squad in big tournaments. An investigation by OCCRP and its partners found that dozens of players’ ages were understated — some by as much as five or six years.

U.S. prosecutors plan to feature a wealthy Romanian businessman, convicted of corruption charges in his home country, in the upcoming tax fraud trial of Hunter Biden, the son of the U.S. president, according to court records.

Beny Steinmetz’s company obtained iron ore deposits worth billions thanks to bribes paid to the wife of a West African president. As revelations of the corruption mounted, and Steinmetz came under pressure in courts around the world, he and his firms struck a series of deals with companies connected to Greek businessman Sabby Mionis. The deals helped Steinmetz protect his assets and fight back against adversaries.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has drastically decreased transparency into public spending, even as he has launched an ambitious new series of state projects intended to show off his government’s power. But behind the scenes, the projects are being implemented by companies owned by people who appear to be close to the president himself.

In February a Maltese court annulled a 2.1-billion-euro public healthcare contract over suspicion of fraud. Financial records obtained by reporters show the people behind the contract used company accounts to buy personal and luxury items, and funneled millions of euros to themselves and relatives under the guise of loans and other payments.